It's Spring
by GameOn
Summary: AU. An alternative Castle/Beckett meeting. What if Beckett had been the arresting officer in that incident with the police horse. "Richard Castle you are under arrest for theft of a police horse and public nudity." Beckett glared up at the naked man sitting atop her horse.


"Richard Castle you are under arrest for theft of a police horse and public nudity." Beckett glared up at the naked man sitting atop her horse. He had the audacity to smirk as she hauled him down and slapped a handcuff around one of his wrists, pulling his arm behind his back.

"You forgot to add _for making you look bad_," the ruggedly handsome author looked back over his shoulder at the cop.

Tall and slim she was stunningly beautiful and radiated a strongly disapproving vibe. Far from putting him off though, it only served to intrigue him.

Beckett ignored his quip and gritted her teeth as she finished cuffing his hands behind his back. It annoyed her that he was partially correct. Having someone steal her horse did make her look bad; it was almost as bad as having her gun stolen, a real rookie mistake. But seriously, what kind of fool tried to steal a police horse?

"Oooh, handcuffs. That's kinky," Castle grinned, completely unconcerned about being arrested.

"You do know that I'm armed," she warned him.

"Hmm, you'd be a _reeeally_ sexy bad cop," he gave her an appreciative look up and down. "My safe word is apples."

"Mr. Castle I'd advise you to take this a lot more seriously. Stealing a police horse is a crime punishable by up to six months imprisonment."

"Oh, I wasn't stealing your horse, I was merely borrowing him," he assured her.

"Borrowing huh? Whilst you were naked?" Beckett gave him a sceptical look.

"It's Spring," Castle shrugged as if that explained everything.

Beckett rolled her eyes, the man was annoying. "Fine, you can explain all of that to the judge. I'm taking you into the precinct for booking."

"Come on Officer …" he looked down at the name plate on her uniform, "Officer Kate Beckett. This is just boyish high jinks, arresting me would be a waste of both your time and mine. Can't you let me off with a warning?"

"No." She gave him her most severe glare but it only made him grin even more. "Let's go Mr. Castle."

It was then that Beckett realised that she had a small problem, or a not-so-small problem. Although it was still early morning, it was getting light enough that there would be pedestrians out in the park, potentially children as well. She couldn't walk him to the precinct while he was bare-ass naked, everything just swinging in the breeze.

Beckett looked around for something that he could use as a cover but there was nothing, not even an old newspaper.

"Where are your clothes Mr. Castle?"

"Why? Did you want to try them on?" he joked. "Sorry but I think that they'd be a bit big for you. Besides, I think I prefer you in that uniform. I've always had a thing for women in uniform."

"Oh really? I'll be sure to mention that to big Bertha, she's the desk sergeant in lockup. I'm sure she'd love to make your acquaintance," Beckett fired back to him with vindictive glee. Of course there was no Bertha, big or otherwise, but he deserved to sweat a bit.

"Big Bertha? Ok, but just tell her to be gentle with me," he said with a pretend shudder.

Kate had to fight the grin that threatened to split her face; he made her want to laugh almost as much as he made her want to pull her hair out in frustration. She'd known who he was as soon as she'd pulled the naked man off her horse. Millionaire, celebrity author Richard Castle. He was as well known for his playboy lifestyle and the models that he dated as he was for his best-selling _Derek Storm_ novels. It appeared that he had the bravado to match his celebrity status; he had no embarrassment about flirting with her while standing there naked. Beckett couldn't help a quick look down; hmm maybe it wasn't lack of embarrassment but rather the confidence that he had the _equipment_ to back up his reputation. She thought that she'd been surreptitious but the smile on his face and the half raised eyebrow said that he'd caught her checking out his package.

Beckett blushed slightly, flustered at her unprofessional behaviour. "Um, about your clothes Mr. Castle, you need to put them on again. Public nudity is against city ordinances. So where are they?"

"Spoilsport," he stuck his tongue out at her as he tilted his head to indicate a pile of material at the base of a tree just off the footpath of the park.

Beckett tethered her horse to a nearby post before she marched Castle over to his clothes.

He shrugged his shoulders slightly and looked pointed at this restrained wrists. "I'm going to need my hands free to get dressed. Unless you're offering to do it for me, I don't mind if you don't."

"That wouldn't be appropriate. I think you'll be able to manage on your own," she said sarcastically as she freed one of his hands, she left the cuff still hanging off his other wrist.

"Oh, I can manage by myself but I've always found that it's a lot more fun with two people," his sly, clever tone made the innuendo clear.

"Just hurry up and get dressed." She rolled her eyes again.

Castle shrugged as if to say it was worth a try. He reached down to pick up his boxers, giving her, a no doubt intentional, view of his toned backside. Her eyes narrowed as Beckett deliberately fixed her gaze at a point about a foot above his head, she wasn't going to play his game. It felt like it took an age, he made a production out of every piece of clothing that he put on. By the end she was wound so tight that it would've only taken one small thing to make her snap.

"Turn around," Beckett told him one he was finally dressed. She grabbed the free handcuff and resecured his hands behind his back again. She motioned for him to walk back to where her horse was patiently waiting.

"Would you like to go out for dinner with me sometime?"

She almost stumbled in surprise. "What?!" she choked out.

"You know, like a date. Food, wine and maybe kissing at the end," he waggled his eyebrows.

"No! You can't ask me out on a date! I'm arresting you," Beckett spluttered.

"Don't worry, I won't hold it against you," Castle grinned. He loved the fact that he could fluster the strait-laced cop. "Besides, I feel like I at least owe you dinner. After all, we've been pretty intimate. I don't just allow any random woman to handcuff me while I'm naked. That's feels at least like second date kind of event." He paused as if he was considering something. "Actually, maybe you owe _me_ dinner. You don't want me to feel cheap do you?"

"No date," she hissed. "And no more talking." Beckett couldn't wait to put him in lockup, let some other poor cop deal with him, she'd had enough.

* * *

Beckett strode into the stables the next day at her regular time of six-thirty. The story of how she'd arrested a naked Richard Castle had been doing the rounds at the station. Her fellow officers had teased her because he'd stolen her horse and her best friend, Lanie, had wanted a detailed description of what Castle had looked like, _sans_ clothing. All Beckett wanted was the story to die down and things to get back to normal.

She grabbed a briddle and saddle and made her way down to the stall where her horse was housed.

"Good morning Officer Beckett."

Kate froze, not wanting to turn around and face that familiar teasing voice. _Oh no, not him again._

"Officer Beckett," Captain Montgomery called out to her.

Beckett slowly turned around to find the grinning writer standing next to her boss. "Good morning Sir," she ignored Castle, directing all her attention to the captain.

"Mr. Castle will be joining you on patrol for the next week," Montgomery informed her.

"What? No!" she protested. "I arrested him yesterday; I can't have him shadowing me now."

"Sorry Beckett, my orders came straight from the Mayor." Montgomery shrugged, indicating that it couldn't be changed. "Make sure that you look after Mr. Castle." The captain walked away as Beckett glared at the novelist.

"What did you do Castle?"

He only grinned at her angry stare. "What can I say? The Mayor's a fan. He got the DA to drop all the charges."

"Fine but that doesn't explain why you're here now," she said curtly.

He shrugged, the picture of pretended innocence. "I might have also said that I was intrigued by the anachronism of mounted cops in this age of the internet and jet planes. I told the Mayor that I wanted to base a character on you and he offered me the chance to do a bit of background research."

Beckett counted to ten silently, willing her blood pressure to settle. It was clear that she wasn't going to get rid of him, not when he had influence in city hall. _One week, she could cope with this for one week._ She turned around, giving him her back as she stomped off.

Castle couldn't help the little chuckle, he knew that she was annoyed but it was so easy to get a rise out of her and he just couldn't help himself. Plus she was _reeeally_ hot when she got all angry like that.

"So can we ride double?" he called to her retreating back. This was going to be so much fun.


End file.
